The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 gives councils and the police a route to make someone deal with knotweed that is affecting their neighbours. Through a Community Protection Notice, an authority can require an occupier to control a stand that is having a detrimental effect on the quality of life of others. Our guide to the law on knotweed explains how this sits alongside a private nuisance claim, offering a public-law lever where a neighbour will not act.
How does the ASBCPA 2014 apply to knotweed?
The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 applies to knotweed through the Community Protection Notice, which a council or the police can serve where conduct, including allowing knotweed to spread, is having a detrimental effect of a persistent or continuing nature on the quality of life of those in the locality. It targets an occupier who is unreasonably failing to control a stand affecting others. This gives a neighbour dispute a statutory route that runs in parallel with, not instead of, a private nuisance claim.
What is a Community Protection Notice?
A Community Protection Notice is a written notice requiring a person to stop doing something, do something, or take reasonable steps to avoid a problem continuing, which for knotweed means taking action to control the stand. It is usually preceded by a written warning giving the occupier a chance to act. Breaching a notice is a criminal offence that can lead to a fixed penalty or a fine on conviction, so the notice carries real weight where an occupier ignores an informal request from a neighbour.
When will a council serve a notice?
A council will typically serve a notice only after less formal steps have failed, where knotweed on one property is demonstrably affecting a neighbour and the occupier has been warned but not acted. Authorities exercise discretion and have limited resources, so a notice is not automatic, and they generally expect the affected party to have raised the matter first. A survey that records the source and spread supports a request to the local authority by evidencing the detrimental effect the notice addresses.
How does this compare to a nuisance claim?
A Community Protection Notice is a public-law route driven by the authority, whereas a private nuisance claim is a civil action you bring yourself to recover the cost of dealing with encroachment. The notice can compel a neighbour to act but does not pay your remediation costs; a nuisance claim can recover those costs but not a residual fall in value after Davies v Bridgend. The two routes sit side by side, and which is worth pursuing depends on whether you want the neighbour compelled to act or your costs met.
Common questions
- Can I ask the council to serve a notice on my neighbour?
- Yes. Where a neighbour will not control knotweed that is affecting you, you can ask the local authority to consider a Community Protection Notice under the 2014 Act. A survey recording the spread supports the request.
- What happens if a notice is breached?
- Breaching a Community Protection Notice is a criminal offence and can lead to a fixed penalty notice or a fine on conviction. This is what gives the notice its force where an occupier ignores it.
- Does the 2014 Act make having knotweed illegal?
- No. The Act does not make having knotweed an offence. It provides a route to compel someone to control a stand that is affecting others, which is different from penalising mere presence of the plant.